This is a chronicle of life - its positives, its fun, the wide spectrum it offers for which it is worth living. One is welcome to point out if there is any issue in any of the writing. It will be addressed, if required.
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The movie titled, "Unreserved" by a young IITKGPian (link)was a no-ordinary-experience travelogue in the unreserved compartments of Indian Rail. Indian Railway's journey continues to be so.
Had the ticket of a superfast train from Howrah which was to start 50 minutes later than a galloping EMU local. Found a decent aisle seat though there were 4 in the space of 3 which was usual for a crowded local train. There was a soft-cover book with me to accompany. Once upon a time, a large number of passengers could be seen reading newspapers in such a journey, so much so that there used to be evening editions sold in the train. Now, mobile phone is there in almost every hand and that is a great time pass. So far, the experience is no uncommon.
After about 90 minutes of travel, a group de-boarded the train. One of their team member, a young person of about 20 years, was sitting at a distance, close to the window. In a hurry and in a crowded train, it is quite common that there may be gentle touch of one's feet with another one in narrow passage as one tries to move, specially during boarding and de-boarding time. Nobody minds that or, a simple 'sorry' or an apologetic smile is considered more than enough.
Hardly, there was any touch or not, I was surprised to see the young bowing down and touching my feet with hand in that crowded train. That could be common in our household environment but not in a train and for someone from this generation. I was stunned and could only fold my hands in return.
In the onward journey on another day, I boarded the unreserved compartment of a long distance express train which was full but, I could manage a seat for myself. I see many posts in travel pages on quality of food served in train and its cost. It was past 1 PM. There were IRCTC uniformed people selling Rs. 50 rice with double egg curry, all within one aluminium foil pack. There were no takers for that in that compartment. Considering IRCTC brand value, I went for it.
But, wouldn't co-passengers have anything for lunch? There were many kids here and there who would be very hungry. Outside temperature soaring past 40 degree celcius, people there in general, didn't mind buying water bottle whenever required which were charged little higher than maximum retail price. At 2:30 PM, the train was going past slowly a station where a few people boarded the running train and started offering fish-meal at Rs. 50.
Few of the co-passengers, specially the parents with kids, moved for it but not many. After 10-15 minutes, the same was offered at Rs. 40 for which there were many takers and lastly, it was offered at Rs. 30 and the whole compartment had their stomach full. The pack had rice, dal, one vegetable and fish.
When one compares their dish with mine (the aluminium foiled one), one may feel that one could have had a tastier treat (if not fussy with carry bag delivery). For the other no-ordinary experience, one may bring distant correlation with the soft-cover book that I was reading, a collection of letters of someone whose death anniversary falls today!
"Sir, your hair needs trimming." The security staff of our apartment complex remarked. He is unlike the other two security staffs in the sense that he does not feel shy of giving me advice. Usually, the advices are for the vehicles in our garage - their conditions, the washing job I perform occasionally etc. And, those gentle suggestions are always very useful.
Therefore, I got alerted. Only a few days back I had to undertake a tour for professional reasons. Did I make a fool of myself with my look? Apparently, both the meetings went well. As such, one is not supposed to judge a book by its cover!
For someone who reads a lot, there is a quote to find refuge on every occasion!
*** *** ***
"Is it going to be your Puja cut?" Durga Puja is just a month away. Here is the specialist who takes care of my hair and unburdens my head at regular intervals. He has been doing it very responsibly for more than a decade now and in a way, has become my legal hair-guardian. According to him, it is his special cut for which my hairs are still eligible for cut and I should not get adventurous to try my luck elsewhere. One is not supposed to disagree with one's barber.
He too, gives me lots of advice and shares his knowledge about the contemporary world while doing his job. His presentation is always laced with humour and is always enjoyable. There is one question he will invariably ask me on every visit of mine. Finding me much taller than his usual customers or himself, he would ask, "How is the weather in upper atmosphere?" That makes me understand that he is in his usual self and I am in safe hands!
This time he got caught on the wrong foot. He was complaining about his own look, which according to him, is a lot better on another day when he shaves his beard. I landed on the wrong day at his place.
For someone, there could not be a better opportunity to get equal!
*** *** ***
"Are you not, Goutam-da? Can you recognize me?" A middle-aged person wearing a cap was standing on the stool and was taking reading of the electric meters of that shop. The shop is just outside the IIT Kharagpur campus. The question came from him. I was then midway of getting relieved of my additional burden on my head.
He didn't need to take out the cap. I could recognize him without any issue though our physique have gone big transformation in between. We played together at our young age at the railway settlement side of Kharagpur. Exchange of pleasantries and phone numbers - he sharing how his son did well in study and got selected for a Govt. job, more offers are being expected.
There were two electric meters. One commercial meter was for the shop, the other one was for their residence behind the shop. The father of the hair specialist (he adores me a lot) came out and was explained of the expected electric bill and adjustment expected against an earlier payment.
Later, both the father and the son were in full praise of this electric meter reading person and his friendly approach. In our discussion in that shop, came the topic of smart meter installations. This will not require foot-falls of a meter reading person! A smart phone, app, preloaded wallet - that's all. Convenient, efficient!
In our effort to have everything at our finger-tip for convenience and comfort, are we missing the human touch points in our lives? How to restore that and prevent over consumption of digital contents and resulting infirmity?
Let me sign off before I myself sound like giving advice!
*** *** ***
Here are a few pictures of Puja shopping ambiance at Golebazar before the market goes frenzy in a few days' time when this month's salary reaches pocket. We were trying to avoid that crowd and my role mostly, was to keep a watch on my motorcycle.
Today is IIT Kharagpur's 73rd Foundation Day. The institute program at Netaji auditorium was to start at 9:30 AM. I was taking my 2-wheeler out from the common garage of our Chitrakoot complex. One of our neighbors was also there for the same purpose. He lovingly referred to my first name, Goutam. Of the three security staffs of our residential complex, two have the same first name. They are from Nepalese / Gorkha background. They are the followers of Goutam Buddha, and the name Goutam is quite common among them.
My name was called in the Foundation Day program before but once when I received an award. But, today, my name came up in the lips of three on the Netaji auditorium stage on three different occasions. And that made me remember one big Budhha idol that I visited once. It was situated in a dark cave. If light from a lantern falls on it from one side, one can see that Buddha is smiling, happy. If light falls from the other side, one could see a pensive, sad face. And, if light falls from the front, one can see him in total peace - neither happy, nor sad.
We the lesser mortal, swing from a state of fulfilment and unfulfillment, joy and sorrow. Of the three occasions of today, two gave a feeling of accomplishment to see our own students getting success in big stage as entrepreneurs and connecting that to their more than decade old student days' experience here - one curricular, the other extracurricular. The third one reminded of an unfinished work in which we elders are yet to realize the dream of a dreamer who was an inspiration to many.
Vidya Bhushan was a UG student of our E & ECE Department. For his final year B.Tech. project, he picked up a challenging problem in neurosignal processing area. Our collaborator from the Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London had a key role in defining the problem statement. He completed his BTP requirement in time (2010) but continued with the work even after leaving the institute. He got a job in Ericsson from the campus placement. In 2012, when he was in IIM Ahmedabad, his BTP work got published in a good journal. The start-up he founded after brief stop-overs at two companies following IIM degree, has now foot prints in 43 cities and was valued Rs. 100 Cr. sometime back, expected to reach 200-250 Cr. mark soon. Today, he referred to that BTP work when awardees were asked to speak a few words after receiving the award from the dignitaries on stage.
Imbesat Ahmad was not from our department. National Service Scheme (NSS), IIT Kharagpur was our common chord. I was in-charge of NSS at that time and together with faculty colleagues and young student volunteers (1st and 2nd year UG), took up various projects in neighborhood villages and slums. Imbesat was primarily in teaching activity but played a key role in the bigger team-based activities. Imbesat's current recognition as a young achiever is for his social enterprise that makes education accessible. He started in offline mode in an unreached place and achieved excellence. To scale up, he started online delivery where a doubt is attended within 16 seconds. This enterprise now has 60000 touch points. His podium speech referred to his 1st year NSS teaching experience.
Other young alumni achievers too, shared their thoughts which depicted how IIT Kharagpur helped them gain valuable experience in their student days here. Felt proud for each one of them. Congratulations to all awardees!
When Dr. P. Arun, Director, Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata, one of the Guest of Honour of today's function rose to speak, my name was referred for the 3rd time. He recollected how much we two wished to fulfill the dream of a cancer survivor who was inspiration to many. We failed to move beyond a point for reasons beyond our control and felt sad for it. We should make a second attempt and try to bridge the gap. We owe it to that dreamer, Mr. Ananthakrishnan, who is no more with us - the relapsed cancer took the great soul away but his dream remains.
The above pictures were taken today after the weekly Tech. Market visit. It is not far that this companion of us will become part of our memories. This is our Maruti 800 Uniq, Limited Edition which was bought in Nov. 2008. Companionship is of 14 long years where it never put us in any awkward situation. Even today, it is as young as it was when it first joined us, going as strong as it always used to. It can serve next 5 - 6 years easily (after re-registration), if not more, with regular annual maintenance. Thus, there is no reason as such to bid it goodbye, except one in which the new one joining us in place of it, whenever it happens, gives us company for a reasonable length of time, till my retirement from this institute.
Rajdoot RD175 was the first motorized 2-wheeler I purchased after getting my first job when I was 22 years old. This was on joining Tata Steel in 1990 after finishing B. Tech. from here. Age was then in my side and drove it quite a lot (unlike this Maruti car which averaged less than 1000 KM per year, of course there were two other 2-wheelers which were usually used for solo travel) in Jamshedpur and then it came with me at Kharagpur when I joined Tata Bearings, a division of Tata Steel. Baba (Father) was not keeping well at that time and then he left us in 1992. I returned to Academics in 1994. From GT Hostel of Kadma, Jamshedpur to small Railway Quarter of Kharagpur (travel to Tata Bearings) and then to two residences at Bhabanipur, Kharagpur (travel to Tata Bearings and then to IIT Kharagpur) - the Rajdoot was in full use. For the brief two years spent in Bandel before joining here as a faculty member in 2002, the Rajdoot went to Bandel and then returned to Kharagpur and became a part of our campus life. The following picture is taken when my daughter was returning from play school in the campus on this bike.
In 2006, we felt the need of a new bike that would provide better technology and service. A Honda Shine was bought and the Rajdoot was taken by someone. I felt very sad later when a senior dada (brother) at KVYM told if the bike itself could have been upgraded by some means for use as my father rode it at certain point of time. My father visited Midnapore town, too as a pillion rider. I am sure that the Dada will feel that this 4-wheeler which is running fine should not leave us to make room for a new one. My mother who is no more, used it so many times. Therefore, it is a difficult choice to make. But, we now have entered the window in which the decision is to be taken, may be within a month.
One 4-wheeler and two 2-wheelers (currently three 2-wheelers, one is to leave soon) are more than our necessity. Either we retain the old 4-wheeler or let it go to someone where it is of that person's use rather than making it rot for non-use - that overwhelmingly is the decision emerging.
Therefore, it is expected to remain with us for one more month or so. The grief of leaving the old one outweighs what is associated with the welcoming of a new one. But, that perhaps is life. The old is to make room for the new ... applies equally well to each of us as an individual!
There was a notice circulated by the Head asking all faculty members of E & ECE department to be present at the NKN Room at 4:30 PM. Some alumni of this department is to visit us. This is part of the Alumni Meet which had to be rescheduled due to pandemic situation. Since our alumni base is very large, different batches get preference in different years.
The NKN Room is at the 2nd floor of front block. Student volunteers were standing at the entrance and at the 1st floor, 2nd floor staircases, waiting to receive the alumni and guide their way to NKN. This 2nd floor is a relatively recent addition for the alumni who completed their study in 1980. An escalator is under construction now and is expected to be operational soon.
The student volunteers made us, the faculty members too, feel special. The in-person interactions have just started. While verbal communication has its own place, it is the non-verbal communication, even if it is a smile or a gentle nod, that creates the bond, the human-to-human connect, makes us part of one big family.
On entering the NKN Room I was sweetly surprised. The 90 capacity room was filled to the brim except, of course, leaving some chairs vacant for the visiting alumni and Head who would accompany them. The major part of the room was filled by the 2nd year students. The 4th year seniors used this occasion to get them integrated with the Department. This was first such opportunity for the 2nd years as they were online till now.
There will be separate meeting with all 2nd years when all of them arrive in the campus. In alumni meet, emotions run high as they relive in their past, there is time spill-over etc. Thus, we were waiting and it occurred that it would be good to have mutual introduction of 2nd year students and the faculty members. Previous Head, under whose tenure these 2nd year students were supposed to join the Department, took lead and then Prof.-in-Charge, Department Society took over from him.
I do take class of these 2nd year students. The offline / hybrid class started the previous day. In fact, ours was the 1st day, 1st class after 2 years of online mode of teaching at IIT Kharagpur. There was an informal meet before with these 2nd year students. That experience and the interaction here showed that all possibly were not bad in this pandemic phase or they staying home taking online classes.
After the introduction round, one faculty asked some of the 4th year seniors present there managing the show, why many of their batch-mates are moving away from core electronics to computer science / coding related project or career. Another faculty made them aware of the requirement of large number of skilled Electronics & Communication engineer to make the country self-reliant. It was also asked, according to these final year students, what is needed to buck the trend.
And came what many faculty members felt and told, but for one specific reason the same could not be taken up. The senior students told that it is the first year days that are most important in this context when impressions are formed, the opinion about one or the other career path is developed. In the first year, in their formative days, unfortunately, the students are away from departments taking some common courses from departments they do not belong to.
The senior students continued. During their own 1st year days which were not online, their seniors used to come to their wings in their hall of residences and give all sorts of funda about career opportunities. And this funda was that a good job is waiting if one learns coding. The young kids coming fresh from their schools would accept anything from their godly seniors which is anything but not the fun of the core of the Department one belongs to. And, it is a vicious cycle.
The remedy these senior students suggest is to have reasonable presence of Department subjects from 1st semester itself with some hands-on. Why is it not implementable? It is the department change option that needs to be included in the curriculum where a select few can change their department based on their 1st year performance while 95% of the students cannot.
The opportunity to change the Department after 1st year seems to be very attractive. It may be all in perception as regard to what we gain and what we lose by going one way or the other. There might be some objective assessment in future by performing cost - benefit analysis. That might bring changes that these senior students indicate. That might not be too difficult in a curriculum that gives option of Minor, Micro in other Departments as well as Inter-Department dual degree program.
These 2nd year students missed those funda sessions as they are arriving now in the campus! This 2nd year, 4th semester is effectively their 1st year, 1st semester. And, they straightway land into the Department subjects. In a way, they wake up to see their core. The freshness, the purity, the receptiveness is evident in their approach and attitude in comparison to earlier batches. Hope, it continues and the department is able to deliver what it is mandated to.
The alumni members started walking in. They spoke briefly. Among them was Professor Susmita Sur-Kolay, who was the first woman President Gold Medal (PGM) winner. She told that there are only six women PGM in whole IIT system till date. There were only 4 girl students in their batch coming through IIT-JEE but she is happy now to see improving gender-ratio in IITs.
She said that IIT Education made her foundation strong for which she could learn anything new easily (so important in a fast moving technology space). The following short video gives a glimpse of few other things that she said. The second half of the video has Mr. Kabindra Daga, another alumnus who was introduced as an "accidental non-Bengali", where he sings a Bengali Bhatiali song.
Head made a short presentation of the Department. Several unique features of the Department, its achievements, its current research focus and future direction were shared. It was highlighted that the Department ranked 92 in the recent QS global ranking, a reasonable improvement over its earlier rank within 100-150 space. Had international faculty and students been not a factor and also, if there was inclusion of undergrad performance for which IITs are better known, the rank would have been much better. The 2nd year, 4th semester freshers listened to these with rapt attention. At the end of the program, there was a walk around the Department corridors.
It was 6:30 PM. The faculty member who wanted to know from the the senior students the reason for current trend where many are seen coding-bound and, how to change the direction for greater good, came to my Department office room. We chatted for about one hour before heading for home. Of many different things, the following came in our discussion.
It is said that when a baby is born, whoever it sees first, it considers itself to be part of their clan. There is an anecdote where a lion cub raised after birth by a herd of sheep used to act like them and used to flee the place if a lion was around. In that story, one day one lion could catch hold of the cub and forced some remedial measure. But the lion was a lion and the cub was still a cub!
It was 4:15 PM. I was waiting at the Nalanda entrance, near Subway. An informal meet was arranged where some of the 2nd year UG students of my course were expected to be present. The movement related restrictions got eased. There is no requirement to have passes to leave halls. My 2nd year course is in the list for which hybrid classes have been announced this morning. Effort is on to get the remaining students back to go fully offline in this course.
Pandemic showing the sign of turning into endemic, the two year wait is now almost over. The stage is all set to open another dimension for us - for both teacher and students. The on-screen 2D presence is going to have a 3D makeover! The students had online class till 4 PM. The cycles from the nearby halls started hitting the stand.
In the online class, voice of a few students are more frequently heard. One of the faceless name from that list started the Teams chat this morning as regard to when and where we meet. As the students started arriving, initially, I tried to find that face for my own comfort by asking "Are you __?" One and half month into the course. We were not completely strangers to each other. Neither side was not that nervous, but somewhat hesitant to begin with.
The number gradually swelled to 20 - 25. There could be more trickling in. Was there a better option than standing in arc on the road at Nalanda entrance? Thanks to the authority in-charge, we got a place to sit in a classroom of adequate size. Stepping into a classroom with students after two years was an experience by itself, even if it was an informal interaction, a prelude to upcoming hybrid class.
What followed next was a purge of fresh air that left each of us oxygenated with elevated SpO2 level!!
Joined the queue at 10:15 AM. Was told before by the experienced ones that by 11:30 AM it would get done. However, pleasant weather - cloudy sky and gentle breeze, brought many like me out today. It became 11:45 AM to get the jab for sequence number 53.
The civic volunteers managing the queue, two young men on two computers, the lady with the log book, two sisters administering vaccine, the lady keeping an watch that none leaves before 30 minute observation period (made a failed attempt to attend a 12 noon meeting) - all were highly efficient and disciplined. The pictures here partially capture the process.
The hall where vaccine was administered in this Hijli Rural Hospital (not far from IIT Kharagpur Campus) looked familiar. Found a picture taken four years back where ICMR-IIT Kharagpur MedTech interns were given an initial brief in the same hall. After that, the interns had a guided tour of this hospital to get acquainted with its activities. This extended to a visit of the interns to far-off villages being served by this hospital together with designated ASHA workers.
The IITB senior Prof. and colleagues were considerate for joining the meeting late and offered valuable post vaccination tips!
Chairman of the Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra announced on Twitter that its specialised team at its Igatpuri and Mumbai plants have responded to the occasion and developed the first ventilator prototype in under 48 hours. "Anand Mahindra also tweeted that these medical ventilators developed by the team at Mahindra would cost under Rs 7,500, whereas other dedicated systems cost anywhere between Rs 5-10 lakh." This news was published on March 26, 2020. [1]
Yesterday's ToI carried an article where Dr Rajeev Chauhan, Assistant Professor at PGIMER said that the device claimed by Mahindra team was originally developed by PGIMER and IISc together from their one year effort and they have applied for 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕. With the spread of the pandemic, they began talks with Mahindra group for large scale production. Dr Chauhan further said that representatives from the business house took details of his invention and 48 hours later introduced the ambu bag as their own product. Mahindra spokesperson denied this saying that they had in fact developed their product following 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 designs from a variety of sources. [2]
The BBC article, dated 1st April, titled, "Covid-19: The race to build coronavirus ventilators" starts with "The world needs more ventilators – but scaling up production is more complex than it seems. Around the world, thousands of volunteers are working hard to fill the gaps." The article continues, "In terms of their core function, ventilators are not extraordinarily complicated machines. Basically, they are sophisticated pumps ... So why are they so difficult to design? Because it isn’t their function that is difficult. It’s that they have to operate in an extremely reliable way in a high-stakes environment." [3]
Of various 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 initiatives, the MIT News of March 26 shares an article titled, "MIT-based team works on rapid deployment of 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆, low-cost ventilator". ln this, "Clinical and design considerations will be published online; goal is to support rapid scale-up of device production to alleviate hospital shortages." The material cost is estimated to be USD 450 (~ Rs. 35000) instead of USD 30000 for standard ones. The article, continues, "The key to the simple, inexpensive ventilator alternative is a hand-operated plastic pouch called a bag-valve resuscitator, or Ambu bag. A tube is inserted into the patient’s airway, as with a hospital ventilator, but then the pumping of air into the lungs is done by squeezing and releasing the flexible pouch. This is a task for skilled personnel, trained in how to evaluate the patient and adjust the timing and pressure of the pumping accordingly." [4]
MIT has come up with a dedicated website for this 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 project and is releasing information as and when it reaches a particular benchmark. The key ventilation specifications to be achieved by this low cost device is non-trivial. It is not just pumping a fixed volume at a fixed rate. Other than spec., hardware and software design details are being populated there (free registration). The download section as of now says, "𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧, 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭." Between March 20 and April 01, MIT team has conducted 4 testing; the first one was a comparative study on animal with their first version of the prototype against Medtronic's PB 840 ventilator system. [5]
Meanwhile, TechCrunch in its 31st March article titled, "Medtronic is sharing its portable ventilator design specifications and code for free to all" has Medtronic spokesperson saying, “We are sharing the design specifications for the [PB 560] to enable participants across industries to evaluate options for rapid ventilator manufacturing to help doctors and patients dealing with COVID-19.” It’s worth noting that Medtronic 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏-𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 the PB 560’s design exactly: it’s issuing a special “𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆” specifically for the purposes of addressing this global coronavirus pandemic, and 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧 (𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐂) 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐧 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭. [6]
Was listening to a very senior Professor from Vidyasagar University in a Teacher's Day function few days back at the office of SDO, Kharagpur. He gave example of parents of a five year old seeking advice from a learned on how to raise their kid. The learned said that the parents were five years late as a child learns from the very first day and the conduct of the parents leaves a lasting impression.
My father used to tell in my younger days when majority of my extra-academic time used to be spent in Children's wing of an organization, "Influence of parents on a child is 50%, children's own will is 25% and what you all are trying is 25%. Pick up those children whose parents are supportive to get better outcome." Of course, it could not be agreed to as we didn't want to profile kids that way and father was happy about it. His was to caution us for the unique development path taken by each in which parents, the first teachers, play a significant role.
Today is father's death anniversary (Link). The teacher in him was there for anybody who crossed path. This evening, there was a lecture from a Ramakrishna order monk here. His Mother was told by Swami Shradhhananda (initiated by Swami Shivananda, direct disciple of Shri Ramakrishna) to dedicate one of his two sons to Shri Ramakrishna during one of his visit to their California residence; there the father was working as a Microbiologist at UCLA. And, both the sons dedicated themselves with encouragement from parents.
Maharaj began with five characteristics of Shri Ramakrisna's teaching: Ever-fresh, Authentic, Allows self-assessment and self-acceptance, Makes best version of oneself, Fun. During Q & A session, he referred to what Nivedita of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda wrote in the forewords of Vivekananda's Complete Works, "If the many and the One be indeed the same Reality, then it is not all modes of worship alone, but equally all modes of work, all modes of struggle, all modes of creation, which are paths of realization. No distinction, henceforth, between sacred and secular. To labour is to pray. To conquer is to renounce. Life is itself religion."
To note, Ramakrishna abandoned formal education at his village school when he was twelve as he found that was oriented only towards bread earning. Interestingly, he became the teacher of many a educated in Kolkata that included young college goers. A glimpse of his teaching, as was noted during those years by Sri Mahendranath Gupta, a Presidency scholar and a Professor can be found here (Link). A more recent article by a Stanford scholar, now an Assistant Professor at Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University in a Springer journal on unique attributes of Sri Ramakrishna can be found here (Link).
Shri Ramakrishna wrote in a piece of paper that Naren would teach and his voice would be heard in home and abroad. Narendra (Naren) remembered, "But I said to him, 'I won't do any such thing.' Thereupon he said, 'Your very bones will do it.'" Narendranath came to world stage as Vivekananda. His simple, penetrative, fearless message has something special. It is inspirational. In today's lecture, Maharaj referred to experience of an American lady who met both Czar of Russia and Vivekananda. Both were very big personalities to stand in front. But, there was an important difference and that was significant. The big personality of the Czar made her feel how small she was while the big personality of Vivekananda made herself feel big.
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On 4th Sept. evening, a panel discussion was arranged here on the topic "Artificial Intelligence and its Impact on the Society." An observation there seemed to suggest that educational institutions and teachers would not be required in time to come. Educational material will be delivered to students by AI, digital technology. Knowledge in the book will be better accessed through digital platform. Information required by a student will be only key-stroke away or will be available in the recommendation panel.
The writing on the board as I stepped into next morning's 8:00 AM class, "Happy Teacher's Day", brought smiles on either side. Dr. Radhakrishnan's, the birthday boy's thought-provoking quotes appeared as last year's FB post. Greetings, messages. Then came these words from a 2018 batch IAS, IIT Bombay BTech in the Teacher's Day function at SDO Office, "Great teachers teach from the heart and not from the book. Teaching really makes a difference."
"If you want to know India, study Vivekananda," Tagore said. If you want to know about education, there is also Vivekananda for you. "What is education? Is it book learning? No. ... Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested all your life. ... The education which does not help the common mass of people to equip themselves for the struggle for life, which does not bring out strength of character, a spirit of philanthropy, and the courage of a lion - is it worth the name? Real education is that which enables one to stand on one's own legs. The education that you are receiving now in schools and colleges is only making you a race of dyspeptics, you are working like machines merely, and living a jelly-fish existence. ... We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet."
AI, digital technology seem to bring back education to its roots by revisiting the teacher-taught relationship and educational institutions getting the opportunity to grow up and beyond!!
Yesterday forenoon, I was in an invigilation duty in the Department together with some young faculty members. This gave an opportunity to know how they are doing and share whatever little I have learnt over time on career milestones. At that time, a recent recruit who hails from opposite side of the country told something that surprised me. He told that before joining this institute he went through my blog and my responses in certain places in social media. These gave him another feel of the institute and helped him taking the decision.
I felt somewhat apologetic that my blog posts here have become quite irregular as the traffic got diverted to facebook! The day before yesterday evening, I was dropping my daughter at a private tuition. There, had a chance meet with another faculty, few years junior and from another department. His better half was also there who in a thankful note told that my facebook post on the movie ‘Kanttho’ (Voice), posted the previous day, was very useful. That review motivated the otherwise reluctant colleague accompany her in the Sunday matinee.
While one may tend to classify above two as 'Thumbs Up' examples which the emoticon or comment of those posts do not reveal, it is also possible that there could be 'Thumbs Down' classification too which does not reach the author. For example, if 400 views a post, about 10% i.e. 40 may actually chose to register their feedback and that too may depend on certain extraneous factors than actual content of the post. Some of the social media space is designed in such a way that only 'Thumbs Up' is registered to hype up the sentiment and no statistics is provided how many actually hit that page and chose not to take a call. Such a space may even allow manipulation with no proper mechanism to respond when a complaint is lodged.
Social media gives a platform to express oneself. It connects to many who we as author may not be acquainted with. We do not exactly know the influence-trajectory of such a post - how it modulates affective states of different individuals. Hence, as a responsible person we need to ask ourselves certain pertinent questions. What is there in the back of our mind when we make a post? Is it to stimulate a positive, constructive chain of thoughts? Is it just for fun to bring smile to someone? Is it to tickle the intellect? Is it to vent out frustration and get a sense of relief? Is it to just engage in a conversation when feeling lonely? Is it to form public opinion about something that matter? Is it for wider circulation of an important piece of information for greater good? Or, is there some specific motive, implicit or explicit, for which the post may be considered deplorable?
What is easier to withdraw – something that is spoken to a few or something that is written in a public platform? What is easier to do – to say ‘I stand corrected.’ to those who correct me or to acknowledge the same in full public glare? The greater difficulty to admit a mistake in writing, that too in a public forum, may keep one going on and on by bringing ill-logic, fuzzing / shifting the context, shout outs. We cannot help doing so as the social media makes a public figure of me in certain sense and I am unable to consider anything as an option for which my carefully curated image can take a beating.
Therefore, an otherwise soft-spoken person, amenable to logic in a private, one-to-one discussion may behave quite differently in social media because of certain psychological vulnerability. This includes a sense of self-righteousness lurking at the back of our rational self and the posturing made in public domain. We think that bucks stop elsewhere than me. Everything else should change but not me. I deserve a better deal which I do not get due to other's fault. I know more about other's woe than that very person. All the while I am in a denial mode if clueless about what bugs myself.
Like every other powerful things, a good use of social media can initiate a virtuous cycle while a misuse can take us to nadir by cascading effect associated with a vicious cycle. Social media is a great place to be in if used responsibly else, it may curb individual development, individual's ascendancy in human scale. In this regard, it is important to note what Vivekananda said, life is a continuous struggle to move from one's lower self to higher self.
P.S.1: My elder sister complained some days back that many of my posts are not fully comprehensible. I am sorry if this post is turning out to be one such. As is said, "Dane dane pe likha hai khanewala ka nam (every piece of grain is destined to be consumed by a particular individual)", may be each post has a target audience to whom it reveals in full and for the rest, only partially!!!
P.S. 2: It is to be noted that visa applicants to the United States are required to submit any information about social media accounts they have used in the past five years under a State Department policy that started a month back, on May 31, 2019 (Link). Such measures and other deterrants may force us to be more responsible in social media and make us behave more sensibly.
Added on 26-06-2019
While I was writing the above post yesterday night on way to complete a struggling half-century at 00:00 Hrs. (there were hits and misses but no throwing away of wicket), the youngsters in the lab. were coming up with this Yaadein album to surprise me today. And, they picked up each of these photos from social media. Needless to say, I am surprised!! :-)
The seniors preferred to be traditional!
At home, the person-in-command made the payas while a seventy nine year old and her grand daughter took turn to feed initial few spoon-fulls!!
In today evening's study circle, Shri Ramakrishna's "খপর নাই (Not aware of)" came again and again. This was in reference to unexplored wealth / faculties within us. Those being not cultivated, we feel ourselves weak, miserable, unfit in front of challenges.
The topic was "Life Building." Excerpt from a small booklet written by Sri Nabaniharn Mukhopadhyaya was read out (Link). It talked about three basic elements within - Body, Mind, Atman. Vivekananda made it easier to understand with 3H - Hand, Head, Heart. Each of these requires balanced food and exercise for its development.
Then the house was open for discussion. The first question was if the idea of development of 3H would resonate with someone who is fighting hard for survival. The answer was, the more the struggle, the more is the need to equip oneself the best way possible.
We have example of people applying Head to make intelligent use of time in difficult times, Heart coming into play to remain united and fight together. And of course, Hand symbolizes physical labour, hard work and that has no substitute.
Someone referred to one of the prayer song with which the study circle started... বিদ্যার সুফল প্রকাশ করে উভয়কে সমভাবে পালন কর (Let the education yield good result to take equal care of us). Therefore, there is a constructive role to play to make each one of us stand on one's own feet.
Our upbringing, narrowing of exposure which results in narrowing of vision and de-growth of certain important faculties make us vulnerable. This gets exposed when we cannot avoid facing hard realities of the real-world. Each of us has our own challenges. Individual development trajectories may take divergent view of same challenge - if it is extreme or if it is just another one that comes and goes.
Narrowing of exposure in our formative years is very much related to improper nutrition and lack of exercise. We do not feel like playing team game in the open field where you lose one day but win another day. We think that reading of biographies of great people and the struggle they went through is a wastage of time. Any effort to know our relation with the society draws askance. Anything unselfish is for someone else to act upon.
Then came the discussion on Atman, our deeper self, for which Vivekananda refers to Heart that feels. Part of the poem, "Quest for God" written by Vivekananda (Link) was read out. This was part of the letter written exactly one week before his famous Chicago Address of 11th September, 1893. The letter was to Prof. John Henry Wright, the Harvard University Professor who introduced Vivekananda to Parliament of Religions. Vivekananda was not aware of the need to carry something with him from India as a credential to represent Hinduism.
Vivekananda writes ~ O'ver hill and dale and mountain range, / In temple, church, and mosque, / In Vedas, Bible, Al Koran / I had searched for Thee in vain. / Like a child in the wildest forest lost / I have cried and cried alone, / "Where art Thou gone, my God, my love? / The echo answered, "gone."
Vivekananda continues ~ Thou speakest in the mother's lay / Thou shuts the babies eye, / When innocent children laugh and play, / I see Thee standing by. / When holy friendship shakes the hand, / He stands between them too; / He pours the nectar in mother's kiss / And the baby's sweet "mama". / Thou wert my God with prophets old, / All creeds do come from Thee, / The Vedas, Bible, and Koran bold / Sing Thee in Harmony.
P.S.1: Yesterday, read a survey based article on mental health of students in premier higher education institutes of the country. Read the proposed solutions. In today's study-circle, it came in the thought when Shri Ramakrishna's "খপর নাই (Not aware of)" was referred to.
P.S.2 There is certain acknowledgement (Link) in the shift to consider EQ (Emotional Quotient) over IQ (Intelligence Quotient) in workplace: for choosing leader, engaging team, training, making one move out of one's comfort zone etc., even if the aim is to maximize the organizational output. EQ here is categorized as: Self-awareness, Self-regulation, Motivation, Empathy and Social Skills.
P.S. 2a: To note, character qualities cannot be manufactured in a certificate program or a motivational speech event. Behavioural makeover falls off when one is put to test outside (air)conditioned environment. To assimilate character qualities, one needs to go through a life building process by taking up appropriate nourishment and exercise on a regular basis that develops 3H. It needs conscious and sustained effort as anything contrary would undo what is incrementally gained. There is no short cut.
P.S.3: If this post appears too heavy, then here is a video made this morning. For this, HH finds a talent in me which I do not seem to be aware of. She advises me to take up film direction after retirement!
A village boy comes from a district which is 6 hours from Kolkata towards North. His father had a small business of selling mosquito net, but also a dream of making the youngest son an engineer.
Village school education was free but could not help the boy securing good enough a rank for Govt. Engineering colleges. An education loan helped to get an admission in a private engineering college in the neighbouring district for which a village school teacher stood guarantor.
There was a campus job offer of Rs. 12000 p.m. but while joining the boy found the company to be a fake one. Off-campus attempt to get a job asked for a Rs. 25000 deposit to a company. The job was found to be one where he had to climb tall cell phone towers in hills without safety gear. Mother asked him to leave the job and come back home.
Some neighbours and members of larger family members laughed at this fate of the engineer. He started helping father in the mosquito net business. Some gave suggestion to work as labour and learn masonry.
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The phone call came yesterday evening when I was returning from Kolkata after an official work. There were best presentation award in conference, publication in very good journal before (more in the pipeline). Now comes a 'signal processing' work related job offer from campus placement in one of the most reputed company of the world. This is an international brand that offers only premium products which are aspiration of who's who.
Wish the father was there today to see what his engineer son is up to.
During his project and M.S. work here, the son was devastated to hear
but then did his best to take the father to the best place in the
country offering cancer treatment.
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It is time for search engines to redefine "Land of opportunity"! The boy once shared that every evening after returning to hostel from lab. he takes time out to talk to himself - to analyze the problems in hand and find ways to overcome them. And, he finds this poster inspiring!
The successful run of biopics at Bollywood in recent times may evoke interest in this script!!!
The train finally moved at 4:15 AM, 6:30 hrs. later than the scheduled time. Announcements of incremental delays due to 'operational reasons' came infrequently. It was left to guess what were those 'operational reasons' as each answer from the persons who mattered added to the confusion. It was a long wait with 2 unwell members for a family of 3 and, many others. As we boarded, we lost no time to hit the bed. We had 3 sleepers in one side of a block of 8.
Woke up little later when 4 co-passengers of that block boarded the train. One berth went vacant. An elderly lady was in charge of that family of 4 and was instructing what the rest 3 would do. Her son, appeared to be an off-duty, young army man, was following the orders and meticulously made bed for all four. The elderly lady and her husband had the side berths. The son and the bahu had two berths in the middle. The lady's loud voice and the son's mild reply in affirmative slowly, slowly started fading ...
The morning came late. We had to get down at 10:00 AM. These co-passengers were making a longer journey. The elderly lady ordered the son to arrange tea. The vendor served dip-tea. The bahu in ghunghat was unaware of how to handle dip-tea setup. The son helped her under a watchful pair of eyes from the side berth. The elderly lady suggested something as snacks for all. The bahu didn't seem to utter any word but the son understood. More options available in the pantry car which was only two coaches' away. A radiant glow and she started walking towards the pantry car barefoot. The son got an error message and stopped her. The sandals were far underneath the lower berth. The son struggled to take them out and then she moved on. The son was tying lace of his shoes when the elderly lady murmured, "Baap par gayi (went by her father)!" to which came the mild reply but this time in negative, "Itni chhoti na soch, Ma (Don't think it that low, Mother)."
The son and bahu were away. The elderly lady spoke a few things to her husband who quietly listened. Then the lady went to give her back some rest and started watching the nature through train window. The elderly man got down from his seat and set two pillows to her back and made room so that she could stretch her legs and relax. The son and bahu came back soon with snacks of individual choices and all of them started having it.
It was time for us to deboard. The accent in which the family spoke made me remember the movie with dialogues such as, "Gold toh gold hota hai ... chhora lave ya chhori." Didn't know why but felt there was a plot in this story that was begging for unmaking through a larger plot of "Bharat - Ek Prem Gatha."
Human makes mistake. I am human, therefore! This week, after watching the movie "Uma", work of an award winning Director, I made the mistake of telling a group of three persons that everything is excellent about the movie except that without Mahishaurmardini (Mahalaya) pieces in the background / foreground one would always fall short of recreating Durga Puja; Anjan Dutta in his character role could have been less loud and there were too-muchness in the use of the dialogue. "I want to make a master-piece." Last week after watching Boom-Boom "Satyameba Jayate", I didn't say anything to anybody, even to myself. Earlier, after watching "Dhadak", while leaving the hall, I just murmured if that was the only way to end the movie which invoked an angry retort from a fellow spectator, "Why not if that is what our society is."
The Karma caught up with me soon. I was asked to shoot a 3 minute long promotional video for an upcoming 3 month long program. For this, I had to fit myself into many different roles, that of script-writer, background designer, dress designer, make up man, director and also, actor. And there was only 24 hours of time for all these with no relief from usual office and household work.
I started with a visit to the studio. The camera crew showed how it would be done and examples of few such promotional videos which were shot before. Most importantly, they provided lots of encouragement and told me that I need not be nervous. A slot of 2-3 PM was given next day i.e. today.
I started writing a 3-minute script and came up with a one pager. People who I sought feedback from uttered the minimum but a look of disagreement said what they wanted to say, that I could have done much better. After one iteration it appeared to me as okayish. It was late evening, too late to get a feedback on that. Then, started working on the background design which was completed late night.
The director in me told that there must be lots of energy, enthusiasm, cheerfulness in the delivery with a matching get up. The actor in me, facing the camera first time for such a promotional shoot, had everything in contrast in him. The shirt has to be single coloured, preferably dark. The trouser could be anything as the shot would be above the waist.
Found that the dark, single coloured shirts in the stock need to be ironed. The earliest I could get it done from outside was this evening. Who does not know that self-help is the best help? There was a visit to barber's shop. He was surprised as it was ahead of the schedule. Little touch up after which he reminded that I need to pay another visit before Durga Puja.
It was 1:15 PM to return home after conducting midterm project viva. There were 30 minutes for a rehearsal. Got a quiet room and started reading the script loud. My own voice appeared strange to me. Got accustomed to after reading it few times. Daughter got drawn from next room with a camera in hand and there were funny takes.
Reached the studio at 2 PM sharp. The camera crew told that reading out from script was not allowed. This was known to the director in me but the actor in me was praying for the opposite. "Can there be a prompter, a screen in front wherefrom I can read it out?" The crew looked at me meaningfully. They understood that they had a difficult job ahead of them. And the answer to the question was negative.
Some effort with the chroma software and background fixing, combing of hair for which mobile phone camera in selfie mode came handy, and we were good to go at 2:30 PM. The studio was to be released for other work at 3:00 PM. Take 1 survived 30 seconds. Take 2 about a minute. Fumbling after going good for 2 minutes in Take 3. For Take 4, camera crew asked not to start all over again but from where I stopped in Take 3. They concluded by that time that I was not in a position to finish a 3 minute's script at one go.
It was 2:55 PM. The persons who would take over the studio at 3 PM was at the door. One crew asked me to go for another full take as they wanted to make some change in proportion of my image and that of the background. I began all over again and behold, the whole 3 minutes' shot was okay at one go in this Take 5. The crew were very happy for their accomplishment. I was in a state of disbelief, "Did I do it?" The next slot persons watched this take in the monitor. They entered when I was packing up and congratulated.
Endnote: It was a lesson learnt. Never ever critcize a script-writer, director, actor, etc. Who knows whether the persons from that make-believe world can make that famous "Om Shanti Om" dialogue (Kehte hain ki, ... agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaaho to puri kayanat usey tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai)work in the reverse direction, too? :-)
